Twitter Verified Accounts: Now Available to General Public

It’s the end of an era: Twitter‘s famous blue check mark, the universal symbol of “that guy on Twitter is really that guy,” is now available to the general populace, and not just to famous celebrities and notable figures through a process that few understood. Twitter verified accounts, the official name for accounts blessed with the mark, have been opened up to the public in order to combat harassment. Here’s what you reportedly need to get yours:

• A Twitter bio
• A birthday
• A website
• A verified phone number
• A confirmed email address
• Your Tweets set to public
• A legitimate profile picture

It remains to be seen how this move will change Twitter’s sometimes toxic atmosphere towards people who for whatever reason find themselves being targeted by an army of anonymous trolls. But one of the advantages of Twitter verified accounts is that they entail additional anti-abuse features not available to the general public. You can get more information on the process straight from Twitter right here.